


Breakdown

by PsychedelicatePoltergeist



Series: Lessons In Strength, Friendship and Love [11]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Puella Magi AU, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Spoilers, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 05:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychedelicatePoltergeist/pseuds/PsychedelicatePoltergeist
Summary: Kazuichi’s regrets pile up one evening, and his best friend and sidekick, Fuyuhiko, is left to deal with the aftermath.





	Breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, it feels like it’s been forever since I actually sat down and completed a decently long oneshot... but I just had to write out this one, because the idea for it just wouldn’t get out of my head, no matter what, and besides, I needed a bit of a break from Screams and Sighs.
> 
> So this is Kuzusouda once again, because 1. what else do you expect me to write? and 2. this precious ship needs more fanfics goddamnit. Though this oneshot takes a more platonic approach this time around, but I guess it’s still a bit shippy if you squint. This oneshot is set in a Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU, meaning that it takes place in the same universe as Madoka Magica, and all the rules of said universe will be present in this fic (though I may have bent them slightly with the inclusion of magical boys in this story), but no actual characters from the show besides Kyubey will show up. Nonetheless, this oneshot does contain SPOILERS for PMMM, particularly regarding the rules of the universe and the way the magical girl system works. If you haven’t watched the anime, but you intend to watch it at some point and you don’t wanna get spoiled, I’d highly recommend not reading any further until you have watched it.
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this oneshot, because trust me, I had a blast writing it!

**Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, 21:13**  
Oi, I just finished fighting a Witch all by myself. Got some Grief Seeds I could share with you, but you shoulda helped me out back there. Kyubey shoulda told you there was a Witch in town.

 **Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, 21:28**  
Hey, where the fuck are you? At least answer my texts, shithead.

 **Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, 21:32**  
Kazuichi, I’m serious. If you don’t get your ass back home right now, I’m gonna go out there and drag you home myself. Your parents are starting to worry like hell.

 **Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, 21:40**  
Fine. I’m going out there to look for ya.

───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────

The streetlights were Fuyuhiko’s only guidance to see through the darkness as he travelled through the silent streets in search of his sidekick. A cold gust of wind blew against him, but he fought through it, the thick sweater he wore assisting him in his perseverance. His Soul Gem nestled safely in the front pocket of his dress pants, having returned to its usual colour of gold after he’d purified it with one of the Grief Seeds he obtained from the Witch he killed. The other one was in his other pocket, and he intended to give it to Kazuichi as soon as he found him.

 _Son of a bitch,_ he thought as he turned a corner. _He’d better not be wimpin’ out on fightin’ Witches again…_

The street he was now walking through was lined with an assortment of stores and fast food outlets, and the area was aglow with brighter streetlights and neon store signs. The town he lived in wasn’t that big, but nonetheless, it was large enough to get lost in quite easily. Of course, he was good with directions, but he didn’t want to waste his time walking all over town just to search for Kazuichi. He figured that he might as well make it easier for himself.

 _Where the fuck are you, Kazuichi?_ he thought, focusing with all of his might to send the message across to him.

 _In that alleyway on the main street,_ Kazuichi replied, his mental voice soft. It had even somehow trembled slightly.

_What the hell happened to you!? I’m gonna get over to ya right now._

_You don’t have to, man…_

Ignoring Kazuichi’s protests. Fuyuhiko quickened his pace and sped off towards the main street, running across roads without paying any heed to the traffic lights, which rewarded him with the sounds of car horns from disgruntled drivers. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to wait for any cars that night. Something was wrong with Kazuichi, and of course the spineless bastard needed his help, whether he was prepared to admit it or not.

The alley on the main street was a popular site for delinquents who liked to hang out, play loud hip-hop music and steal money off of anyone who was unfortunate enough to walk in. It was an area that nestled in between a clothing store and the abandoned bike shop that Kazuichi’s family once owned and managed. The delinquents rarely frequented the area at this time of night, however; they were often driven away by angry store owners who were closing up at about 8:30 at night. The walls that faced the alley were covered in crude graffiti, and the ground was littered with empty soda cans and potato chip packets.

Kazuichi leaned against the wall of the bike shop, his knees drawn to his chest and his face hidden beneath his arms. He hadn’t sustained any injuries, from what Fuyuhiko could tell, but his school uniform was crumpled and dirty.

“Found you.”

Kazuichi slowly raised his head to meet Fuyuhiko’s gaze. “Guess it’s true that you never hold back on your promises, huh?”

“You never said you didn’t want me to come over.” Fuyuhiko took a few steps toward Kazuichi and knelt down to his level, sighing. “You didn’t try to fight a Witch all by yourself again, did you?”

“Not when I almost got killed last time.”

“Good.” Fuyuhiko dug around in his pockets, and, a moment later, brandished a Grief Seed. “Gimme your- your Soul Gem.”

Kazuichi reached inside his own pocket, carefully extracting his Soul Gem and holding it out towards Fuyuhiko. To Fuyuhiko’s surprise, the gem had almost completely dimmed, and he could only make out the slightest pinpricks of magenta among the cloudy, coal-like darkness of it.

“Shit!” Fuyuhiko exclaimed as he turned to face Kazuichi again, his eyes fixed into a glare. “Your Soul Gem looks filthy as hell! Did you even fuckin’ realise how close it is to darkenin’ completely!? This is why you should always stay by my side and fight Witches with me! You’re fuckin’ useless without me!”

Kazuichi lowered his head, ashamed. “I know,” he murmured. “My fightin’ skills suck, my powers are lame, and… and I’m always so scared that I’m gonna die. And I only signed up for this so that Miss Sonia won’t move back to her home country…”

Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes, remembering the day Kyubey had approached the two of them and offered them a contract - a contract that had changed their lives forever. After the initial shock of possibly becoming a magical boy had worn off, Kazuichi happily, foolishly wished that Sonia’s trip back to Novoselic, which was set to be undertaken the following week, would be cancelled, and that Sonia would decide to stay in Japan. It was such a small, innocuous wish - and that was the problem. It didn’t reward Kazuichi with anything worthwhile or equal for the exchange of time spent fighting Witches.

“I was so stupid,” Kazuichi went on. “I coulda used that wish to… get some money for me and my family. If I had‘ve done that… maybe the bike shop would still be up and runnin’...

Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes. “You shoulda just asked me for a few thousand yen or somethin’. My family’s loaded, y’know.”

“I didn’t wanna get you in trouble.”

“Still managed to lend your family a wad of cash after the shop closed down.”

Kazuichi shrugged. “Whatever. Point is, I’m not worth it. If there’s only two magical boys in the entire world who have ever been contracted and given the same responsibilities as magical girls… I don’t deserve to be one of ‘em. This… it ain’t right for me.”

Fuyuhiko sighed as he took Kazuichi’s Soul Gem from him and held it in the palm of his hand. He raised the Grief Seed towards the Soul Gem, so close that they were barely touching. “You’ll get better if you keep practicin’,” he assured him. “Just keep fightin’ Witches with me. Maybe I could even start trainin’ you in combat. Your powers and shit are real different from mine, but it’s the same basic concept.”

It wasn’t until he had finished speaking that he realised that Kazuichi’s Soul Gem was still as dark as ever, and that the Grief Seed hadn’t done anything to it. Agitated, he nudged the two objects together, making them brush against each other - but, despite his efforts, nothing happened.

“Fuyuhiko?” Kazuichi glanced down at his motions, his eyes widening out of worry. “The hell’s goin’ on?”

“Good fuckin’ question,” Fuyuhiko growled irritably as he made the Soul Gem and the Grief Seed lightly collide with each other, again and again, in the hope that something would happen. “It ain’t workin’. It’s not purifyin’ like it’s s’posed to.”

“Wh-what?” All colour drained from Kazuichi’s face as he stared, doe-eyed, at Fuyuhiko’s ministrations. “I-it’s almost fully dimmed! What’s gonna happen to me when it’s fully dimmed!?”

“I don’t fuckin’ know!” Fuyuhiko cried. “All Kyubey told us is that we’re s’posed to make sure they stay purified!”

“L-let me try!” Kazuichi seized his Soul Gem and Grief Seed and began to crush them together with such brute force that Fuyuhiko was worried that either of them would shatter. He began to rock back and forth as his body trembled a little, and he rapidly blinked back tears that were threatening to slide down his cheeks. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck-_ “

“Careful, idiot, you’re gonna break them!” Fuyuhiko warned him.

“F-Fuyuhiko…” Kazuichi stopped. The two objects slipped out of his hands, as though they’d suddenly had all of their strength drained out of them. “I… I don’t feel very good… help me… fuck, help me!” His voice rose after every word he spoke, cracking slightly on his last word.

As soon as Kazuichi’s Soul Gem hit the ground, it was cloaked in a thick, black cloud, and Fuyuhiko’s eyes instinctively trailed down to it. The Grief Seed had bounced away, out of sight, and Kazuichi’s Soul Gem was smoking, as though it was on fire, though Fuyuhiko didn’t see any flames, or smell any smoke for that matter. He jumped to his feet and took a couple of steps back. “Kazuichi, we need to get out of-“

He paused. Kazuichi had disappeared. And this place… Fuyuhiko wasn’t in the alley anymore. No, he was in what appeared to be some kind of factory. The silence of the alley was gone, and in its place were the obstructive sounds of loud, whirring machinery. Gears turned every which way he looked, and he was enclosed in a space that shielded the outside world with sturdy-looking, metal walls. At the very back of the room, there was a large door.

There were at least five machines in the room, all somewhat resembling printers, except that neither of them even had buttons - there was only a thin chute where paper would be printed out. Every minute or so, they would each eject an extremely thin girl, who looked as though she were made of paper - and she probably was. Each of these girls looked identical. They all wore nothing but the very same thin, pink bikini that proudly boasted their hips and cleavage. They all had blonde hair, accessorised with a black bow coated in sequins. And their faces… well, there was nothing on their faces at all. No eyes. No nose. No mouth. Not even ears. And, once each girl was “printed out”, she stood up and simply swayed her hips, slowly and seductively. Those girls all looked so… familiar. They were all oddly reminiscent of Sonia, that girl Kazuichi was crushing on…

Kazuichi. Fuyuhiko righted himself back into focus. He had to find Kazuichi.

“Hey, Kazuichi!” he bellowed. “Where’d you run off to this time, you idiot!?”

 _He’s gone,_ a clinical, telepathic voice replied.

Fuyuhiko looked down at the ground, and sure enough, Kyubey had appeared beside him, gazing up at him with its round, empty eyes. “Thanks, Captain Obvious. Now tell me where he is.”

_You misunderstand, Fuyuhiko. He’s gone._

Gone? Fuyuhiko’s heart raced as he turned the word over in his mind. Did that mean… that Kazuichi had died? Had his corrupted Soul Gem killed him?

 _Not quite,_ Kyubey replied; Fuyuhiko had forgotten that it could read his thoughts. _It’s true that his Soul Gem has been corrupted beyond repair, but… he’s not quite dead. Right now, we are in his Labyrinth._

“ _His_ Labyrinth!?” Fuyuhiko repeated. “This is a fuckin’ Witch’s Labyrinth!”

_It is indeed. Kazuichi has become a Witch._

“Wh-what the hell are you talkin’ about!?” Fuyuhiko seethed as he clenched his fists, his heart beating furiously against his ribcage. “I didn’t fuckin’ know it was possible for people to become Witches!”

 _All of the Witches you have fought were once magical girls,_ Kyubey explained. _We are now in the Labyrinth of the first Witch who was once a magical boy. Speaking of which, you should kill him now, or you’ll die here._

But Fuyuhiko was frozen on the spot, his mind filled with several different thoughts that all ran in at least five different directions. This Witch, whose Labyrinth he now stood in… that Witch had once been Kazuichi. As he took another cursory glance around, at the metallic-looking walls, the machines, the scantily-clad Sonia lookalikes that were all printed out… it made some degree of sense. Kazuichi loved tinkering around with machines, and he’d always admired Sonia to a great degree. And he’d turned into a Witch after his Soul Gem had reached its breaking point, so… that meant that once a Soul Gem had corrupted completely, the magical girl - or boy - it belonged to would turn into a Witch. So that meant…

“We can bring him back, right?” Fuyuhiko asked Kyubey.

The small creature shook its head. _Once a magical girl or boy has completed her or his transformation into a Witch, she or he cannot return to her or his initial form, it explained. This means that Kazuichi’s initial form has completely disappeared. It is gone. There is no way to bring it back._

Fuyuhiko gritted his teeth. As he took his Soul Gem out of his pocket and held it in his palm, he quickly made his transformation into his magical boy costume. His casual attire fell away to be replaced with a gold, exquisite-looking suit, topped off with a black tie, a dark grey cape that fell to his bottom and a pair of boots that reached up to his ankles. A black fedora had appeared on his head, and his gold, oval-shaped Soul Gem appeared on one of the two rings he always wore on his fingers. By the time the transformation was complete, he was holding a large rifle and pointing it directly at Kyubey, who continued to stare blankly up at him.

“How fuckin’ _dare_ you show up in my fuckin’ life!” he roared. “You took advantage of my best friend, my _brother_ , who struggled to fight Witches all by himself! And now- now he’s become one, thanks to you and your fuckin’ contract! I’m going to fuckin’ end your worthless fuckin’ life, right here, right now!”

Kyubey didn’t say anything. It simply continued to gaze up at Fuyuhiko, its emotionless expression unchanging. Was the little bastard taunting him? Did it even realise that Fuyuhiko had the upper hand here? Even if Fuyuhiko wasn’t a magical boy, he still had plenty of firearm experience under his belt, and he did know some physical combat.

 _Whatever,_ Fuyuhiko thought as he fired, and a bullet wedged itself right between Kyubey’s eyes. He moved back, turned and fired another shot, this time on the creature’s side, and it doubled over, falling limp as a red fluid - Fuyuhiko wasn’t sure if it was blood or something else - pooled out of its lifeless body.

Satisfied with the carnage he’d made, Fuyuhiko turned back towards the Witch’s familiars - they had to be those Sonia lookalikes. By now, there were dozens of them, and they’d all stopped swaying their hips. They stood frighteningly still, and if they had eyes, they’d be staring right at Fuyuhiko, possibly in an uncomfortable, unnerving manner. Then, a boy’s cries pierced Fuyuhiko’s ears, so loudly that he felt compelled to drop his gun and cover his ears. Instead, he remained standing, unfettered, aiming his gun at one of the paper-looking girls.

_Guess they hate the sight of blood..._

It only took one gunshot for each of the girls to fall down, and once each bullet hit each of their torsos, it created a noticeable hole. Fuyuhiko swallowed - they were literally two-dimensional. And, as they each fell to the ground, they each bled an odd, bright pink substance. Fuyuhiko decided not to question it - he’d seen weirder things in other Witches’ Labyrinths. Nonetheless, his heart felt hollow, and he resisted the temptation to connect any of the elements of this Witch, his Labyrinth and his familiars with those shared by the person the Witch had once been.

He cleared his mind of all troubling thoughts, effectively numbing himself as he wordlessly pierced his sturdy bullets through each of the printers, which frantically emitted discordant noises and beeps as they began to smoke, and Fuyuhiko hurried past them, not wanting to know what was going to happen if he stayed around any longer. He seized the handle of the door at the back of the factory and swung it open, dove into the room it led into and slammed the door behind him.

This room was remarkably different from the other one. Spare parts were haphazardly scattered around the floor and the walls, and the walls were decorated with graffiti-esque runes, which Fuyuhiko couldn’t read or understand. He also noticed a messy-looking painting of a plain-looking boy with dark hair and glasses on one of the walls, and a crude, pink cross was drawn over it. In the centre of the room was a large, rusty-looking machine, which looked as though it hadn’t even been touched in several years. It was a round machine that kind of resembled a drill, but the pointed end was misshapen and blunt, and six bladed appendages stuck out in a circle on the outside of the machine.

Fuyuhiko swallowed as he raised his rifle once again, aiming it dead-on at the centre of the machine. This was the Witch himself. It had to be. If it wasn’t… why hadn’t he appeared yet? Where was he?

He wasn’t killing Kazuichi, he reminded himself. Kazuichi was already dead. He was already gone. All that remained was his Witch, a personification of his darkest thoughts and feelings. That Witch could hurt people, brainwash them into killing themselves, and there was no way Fuyuhiko was going to let it stick around, even if it had been his closest companion once upon a time. Besides, Fuyuhiko couldn’t escape this Labyrinth alive without killing this Witch even if he wanted to, and so, he had no choice. Still, by killing the Witch… he was putting the final nail on Kazuichi’s coffin. Nonetheless, once it was all over, Kazuichi would rest in peace… or so he hoped.

Fuyuhiko, momentarily distracted by his thoughts, had almost failed to see the Witch’s attack coming, and one of the blades swung at him. Even as he tried to dodge out of harm’s way, it was too late, and the blade made a deep, clean cut across his left eye.

“SHIT!”

Stars danced across his now-reduced vision. Blood streamed down his cheek, dripping off his chin and onto the floor, staining his costume in the process. But he didn’t stop. He fired his gun, once, twice, without even giving much thought to what he was doing. The powerful bullets shot directly through the Witch’s surface, and another bloodcurdling scream echoed around the Labyrinth as the machine began to spark and fizzle. The screaming continued as the Witch fell to the ground, and then-

It stopped. Everything stopped. The scream ceased, and suddenly, Fuyuhiko was back in the alley on the main street, once again standing beside Kazuichi’s abandoned bike shop. His eye still bled relentlessly, creating a messy puddle of blood on the floor, and it wasn’t until then that he realised - the wound barely even hurt. He didn’t know whether it was his high pain tolerance coming into effect or simply his determination filtering out the pain and bringing it away from focus, but still… he should’ve felt that pain. It should’ve been blinding, it should’ve been unbearable, and Fuyuhiko shouldn’t even have the physical strength to stand up right at that moment. But, somehow, here he was, standing on his own two feet, despite the fact that he was bleeding so heavily that he could collapse from blood loss right then and there.

He cautiously picked up the new Grief Seed that had appeared beside him - the only remains of what had once been Kazuichi Souda. The only remains of what had once been a boy he’d considered his blood brother until the end. He transformed back into his civilian form and placed the Grief Seed into his pocket without using it to purify his Soul Gem - it was still mostly clean, and he wasn’t really going to need to purify it until the next day, perhaps.

No matter what, he was going to keep fighting, for Kazuichi’s sake. He was going to move forward and make Kazuichi proud. He was going to keep fighting until the day he died, until the day his own Soul Gem would give out - and he hoped that that wouldn’t happen for a long, long time.

Fuyuhiko ripped off the sleeve of his sweater and wrapped it around his mutilated eye. As he walked out of the alley and back into the main street, he failed to notice that Kyubey was sitting on the rooftop of a nearby store, watching him intently with beady red eyes.


End file.
